WILLINGNESS TO PRACTICE AGRICULTURE AS A CAREER AMONG AGRICULTURAL UNDERGRADUATES IN IMO STATE

Thesis Abstract

               ABSTRACT 

This study examined the willingness to practice agriculture as a career among agriculture undergraduates in Imo state by randomly sampling 100 undergraduate from three agriculture institution in Imo state with the aid of structured questionnaire. Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics. Result revealed that higher proportion of the undergraduate was male (52%) Christians (70%) and had parents who are more of civil servants. Majority (60%) were willing to go into agriculture related enterprises with livestock production (30%) been the most preferred enterprise. Major reasons for student’s willingness were identified to include desire to be self employed, lucrative nature of agriculture and encouragement received during training. Lack of credit load facilities to Agriculture graduates and unavailability of infrastructural facilities such as storage, processing and marketing accesses were major reasons hindering undergraduates’ willingness to venture into Agriculture related enterprises. This study concluded that Nigerian agriculture can still contribute significantly to the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product. For sustainable development to take place, this study recommended that affordable credit loan facilities should be made available to agriculture graduates as this will sustain their willingness to go into agriculture related enterprises.